Pressure Mounts For Resignation

NEWPORT NEWS — Del. Phil Hamilton defiantly fired back at leading Republicans calling for his resignation Tuesday, insisting that he will not give up his powerful seat in the House of Delegates.

"I have no intention of resigning," the Newport News Republican told the Daily Press on Tuesday.

Hamilton said he was unmoved when the Republican candidates for governor and lieutenant governor and the chairman of the state GOP called for him to step aside. Asked about pressure mounting because of the growing chorus questioning his ethics, Hamilton was blunt.

"What pressure?" he asked.

In fact, Hamilton said, some of his local backers are so furious at the Republican leadership that they are taking down campaign signs touting Bob McDonnell and Bill Bolling, the top names on the GOP ticket.

"It's been a tremendous outpouring of support," he said. "They solidified a local base that quite frankly hadn't been energized about this election."

Hamilton is facing an election challenge - from Democrat Robin Abbott - for the first time in years. He now must campaign amidst a storm of criticism about his efforts to secure a job at a proposed teacher training center at the same time that he was using his legislative influence to secure state financing for the center.

After the financing was approved, the Center for Teacher Quality and Educational Leadership at Old Dominion University hired Hamilton as a part-time director, at a salary of $40,000 a year. Hamilton is paid almost $20,000 a year as a state lawmaker and about $37,000 a year for a part-time position with Newport News Public Schools. As a retiree, Hamilton also draws a pension from the school system.

Hamilton initially denied any conflict of interest in his relationship with ODU, but resigned the job and apologized last week after the Daily Press obtained e-mails in which Hamilton and ODU officials discussed the job and Hamilton's salary needs.

Hamilton insists that he did not back state funding for the center to get a job. However, he acknowledged that the appearance of impropriety was too strong to ignore. House Speaker William J. Howell has called for an ethics inquiry.

The three Democrats running for statewide office - Creigh Deeds, Jody Wagner and Steve Shannon - all called for Hamilton to resign.

But the tone changed distinctly Monday when McDonnell, Bolling and Republican chairman Pat Mullins all weighed in favoring a resignation.

Hamilton said he was surprised to learn that McDonnell was calling for him to resign because the two men spent nearly half an hour discussing the ODU situation early Monday evening.

"He never told me, in the 20 minutes we talked, what he was going to do," Hamilton said.

A McDonnell spokesman declined to comment on the Monday evening conversation with Hamilton or Hamilton's claim that local Republicans are lashing back at the GOP ticket.

Hamilton said he did not know if Mullins was trying to line up a replacement candidate in case he decides to resign.

"Based on the feedback I've gotten today, I don't know that Pat Mullins would be very welcome around here," Hamilton said.

A loyal Republican and part of Howell's inner circle, Hamilton has become a go-to member of the GOP over the past decade. He has broken across party lines on policy, but the divisions have never seemed so personal or intense.

Hamilton said his next step Tuesday evening was a round of door-knocking in neighborhoods in his district.

"We're not letting this change our strategy," he said. "I've got a campaign to run."

WHAT HAPPENED

Del. Phil Hamilton secured a job for himself at a proposed education center while he was pushing through the General Assembly the funding to open the center at Old Dominion University. He faces an ethics review amid a growing number of calls for him to resign his seat.